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Adobe brings ‘Photoshop magic’ to the PDF with 2 new mobile apps

When speaking about their software, Adobe engineers often reference something called “Photoshop magic.” The idea refers to the underlyin...

When speaking about their software, Adobe engineers often reference something called “Photoshop magic.” The idea refers to the underlying tech that powers its popular image-editing software and mobile apps.

Now Adobe is bringing its “Photoshop magic” to two new mobile apps that have nothing to do with image editing: Acrobat Mobile and Fill and Sign, both of which help users create and edit PDFs on the go.

Acrobat Mobile builds off Adobe’s longstanding desktop PDF offering, Acrobat. The new app, which is available for iOS, Android and Windows, lets users easily edit the text of PDFs from their device. It also streamlines PDF creation by allowing users to take a photo of a document with their phone and automatically turn it into a PDF.

The latter feature is where that famed “Photoshop magic,” comes in says Lisa Croft, senior product marketing manager at Adobe. Since the apps use the same tech as Photoshop and other creative offerings, the app is able to automatically detect enhancements that need to be made and make adjustments to fine tune the image.

“This is really the capability of taking the Acrobat tools you use on a regular basis and move them across your devices,” Croft said. “We really looked at every single tool and thought about a way to make it as easy as possible. We also looked at it from a touch standpoint in that all of the tools and apps across devices are fully touch-enabled.”

Image: Adobe

The second app, Fill and Sign, aims to make it easier for users to add signatures to their PDFs. Users can sign their own documents or use the app to share documents with collaborators and get their signatures. Those who receive a shared filed can sign the PDF even if they don’t have the app themselves, a feature Adobe thinks will be particularly useful to the company’s many business users.

The new apps are part of a larger business move for Adobe. Building on their Creative and Marketing Cloud subscription offerings, the new apps are part of a third tier, the Document Cloud. It consists of the new mobile apps, a refreshed desktop version of Acrobat and a cloud-backed subscription service for individuals and businesses.

The apps are free but a full Document Cloud subscription will begin at $12.99/month for the standard subscription and $14.99/month for the pro tier. A separate enterprise subscription and a perpetual license will also be available but the company has not yet confirmed those prices. The service will be available within the next 30 days, Adobe says.